In a Purple Haze : USC Hasn’t Been the Same Since Its Last Trip to Seattle in 1990

Two years ago this week, when USC last went to Seattle to play Washington, the Trojans were riding a 20-game Pacific 10 Conference unbeaten streak.

They had reached the Rose Bowl game three times in three seasons under Coach Larry Smith.

They were ranked fifth after opening the season with victories over Syracuse and Penn State.

Washington had not been to the Rose Bowl in nine years.

And Washington Coach Don James, deemed the Pac-10’s most overrated coach in a poll conducted by the Eugene Register-Guard, was being fitted for a purple and gold dunce cap.

The Huskies had opened the season with lackluster victories over San Jose State and Purdue.

“It looked like they were the team to beat again, and we were just struggling,” James said.

But when Washington overwhelmed USC before a raucous crowd of 72,617 at Husky Stadium, 31-0, it sent the teams in opposite directions.

Washington is still hot.

USC is not.

Washington has won all but one of its last 17 conference games, having outscored its opponents by nearly 30 points per game.

The Huskies were big winners in the last two Rose Bowl games.

They won their first national championship last season, sharing the title with Miami.

They would have won it a year earlier had they not been upset by UCLA a week after clinching a Rose Bowl bid, 25-22.

And in the eyes of Washington alumni, James is a genius again.

USC, meanwhile, is trying to right itself after last year’s 3-8 season, its worst in 35 years.

The Trojans ended a seven- game winless streak last Saturday, defeating Oklahoma, 20-10, at Norman, Okla.

They have won only one of their last eight games at the Coliseum.

After losing only one conference game in their first three seasons under Smith, they lost eight and tied one in the next two.

Last winter, Smith was labeled mediocre by former Trojan running back Jon Arnett, who listed Smith’s shortcomings in a nine-page letter he mailed to all university trustees and major contributors to the football program.

But had it not been for the events of Sept. 22, 1990, when the Trojans withered in 92-degree heat in Seattle, this stunning role-reversal might not have been so sudden.

Or so complete.

Whereas the victory galvanized the upstart Huskies, the loss staggered the unsuspecting Trojans.

“It lingered through that whole season, bothered us all,” said Smith, whose team will play the Huskies again on Oct. 3 at Seattle. “We basically lost our cool, and we were outplayed in every department. We were out-hit, we were out-everything.”

All the trappings were in place for USC to be ambushed.

“That was our centennial season and that was earmarked as the game of the year,” James said. “We brought back the centennial team and we had a big banquet on the floor of the stadium the night before the game. It was a real festive occasion.”

Not for everybody.

Washington rolled up 410 yards while limiting USC to seven first downs and 163 yards, only 28 of them rushing.

Asked afterward what the Husky defense had shown him, USC quarterback Todd Marinovich said: “All I saw was purple.”

Marinovich completed only seven of 16 passes for 80 yards, and threw two interceptions.

USC’s rushing total was its lowest since 1982, its first-down total its lowest since 1962. The Trojans converted only four of 14 third-down plays. They were penalized 13 times for 111 yards.

“A nightmare,” Trojan safety Stephon Pace said this week. “I don’t think we were prepared. It didn’t have anything to do with the coaches, or anything like that. We just let their football team take us out of the game.

“Their crowd took us out of the game, too. It was frustrating. We just couldn’t make plays. And they were good. They made plays and just basically dominated.”

The Huskies, more sure of themselves after suffering through several close defeats during the ’88 and ’89 seasons, took off from there.

“I don’t think there’s any question that when you beat a USC, you start believing in yourself,” James said. “And it was a real thorough defeat.

“For us to beat that team like that, the one thing it gave us was confidence. It was a great lift.”

Washington ended a 10-2 season with a 46-34 victory over Iowa in the Rose Bowl. Last season, it was 12-0, including a 34-14 Rose Bowl victory over Michigan.

Its 17-game winning streak is the nation’s second-longest.

“They blossomed right after (beating us),” Smith said. “I mean, they just exploded.”

Two years later, the effects are still being felt from one end of the conference to the other.